Tlaib’s grandmother to Trump: ‘May God ruin’ you

It’s pretty sad when you have to use your grandmother as a prop for hating on Israel and Donald Trump, but Rashida Tlaib’s ability to stoop to any level knows no boundaries.

RashidaTlaib pretends she may never see her grandmother alive again. She was granted permission to visit her Grandmother as long as she did not try to incite the Palestinian people against Israel. Instead of going to visit her Grandmother that she said might not live much longer, she chose to put on a show for those who are less informed. Her hatred of Israel was stronger than her wanting to see her grandmother.

She could care less about her Grandmother. She wanted to go to Israel and incite hatred and violence. Tlaib was basically misleading the people in her district and promoting hatred. And now her grandmother is getting into the act, blaming Trump even though Israel approved of Tlaib’s visit:

“Trump tells me I should be happy Rashida is not coming. May God ruin him,” Muftia Tlaib said in an interview with Reuters.

Muftiyah Tlaib — who says she is somewhere between 85 and her early 90s — lives in the village of Beit Ur al-Fauqa, about 15 miles outside Jerusalem and close to the seam line between Israel and the West Bank, territory that Israel occupied in the 1967 war and that Palestinians hope to see as part of an independent state someday.

She lives in the same elegant limestone house in the same sleepy village she has called home since 1974 — the house where the whole village once came to celebrate Rashida Tlaib’s wedding, and the house that looks directly onto an Israeli settlement with a visible military presence.

“She’s in a big position, and she cannot visit her grandmother,” she laughed, seated in her living room on Friday. “So what good is the position?”

Rep. Tlaib wrote a letter to Israeli officials desperately wanting to visit her grandmother. Permission was quickly granted, whereupon Tlaib obnoxiously turned the approval down, a complete setup. The only real winner here is Tlaib’s grandmother. She doesn’t have to see her now!

Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri said Friday that he would approve a separate humanitarian request for Tlaib to visit her grandmother, or “sity” in Arabic.

“Israel is the oppressor and its racist attitude towards Palestinians is established policy,” Nour Odeh, a Palestinian journalist, wrote on Twitter. “Rashida should have known better. She should have acted with more dignity & pride.”

Tlaib appeared to agree by Friday morning.

“When I won, it gave the Palestinian people hope that someone will finally speak the truth about the inhumane conditions,” Tlaib tweeted. “I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies.”

“Silencing me & treating me like a criminal is not what she wants for me. It would kill a piece of me. I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in — fighting against racism, oppression & injustice.”

Donald Trump criticized Tlaib’s refusal to visit Israel after officials said she could come if she didn’t protest, while Nancy Pelosi worked to move on. Of course the press completely screwed the pooch, saying Tlaib was denied the visit. A complete lie.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi seemed inclined to dismiss the president’s role in creating controversy over the Tlaib’s planned trip, however, telling the Associated Press on Friday that she sees Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent cooperation in barring visits from US lawmakers critical of Israel as something that will not have a lasting impact.

“We have a deep relationship and long-standing relationship with Israel that can withstand Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu,” Pelosi said. “We cannot let their weaknesses stand in the way of our ongoing relationship.”

Trump’s and Pelosi’s latest comments reflect their sharply divergent outlook on the US-Israeli relationship: Trump sees Israel as a means for advancing domestic political goals — an opportunity to divide Democrats and demonize lawmakers who criticize Israel harshly for its treatment of the Palestinians. Pelosi, by contrast, wants to depoliticize the US-Israeli relationship, and wants to return it to a policy realm of bipartisan consensus.

The controversy began when Netanyahu blocked Tlaib and Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from entering Israel on Thursday, citing their support of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (a campaign that in part calls for a boycott of Israeli goods and for companies to stop doing business in the country) against the country.

The unprecedented move to bar US lawmakers from visiting Israel on political grounds came immediately after Trump tweeted, “It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep. Tlaib to visit Israel,” claiming that they “hate Israel & all Jewish people.” Trump also reportedly privately lobbied Israel’s government to block the visit.

It would show great weakness if Israel allowed Rep. Omar and Rep.Tlaib to visit. They hate Israel & all Jewish people, & there is nothing that can be said or done to change their minds. Minnesota and Michigan will have a hard time putting them back in office. They are a disgrace!

Tlaib and Omar had been scheduled to go on a private trip organized by a Palestinian-led nonprofit, traveling across Israel and the West Bank, where Tlaib has family. As Vox’s Jen Kirby explained, after having her entry barred by the Israeli government, Tlaib then decided to try to find another way to visit her family:

[A]fter the announcement, Tlaib appealed to Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, asking that she be permitted to visit her relatives in the West Bank — specifically her grandmother, who is in her 90s. “This could be my last opportunity to see her,” Tlaib wrote. “I will respect any restrictions and not promote boycotts against Israel during my visit.”

After the request, Israel reversed its decision for just Tlaib, and granted her permission to visit after she agreed in writing not to promote the boycotts, according to the New York Times. In a statement, the Israeli interior minister’s office said that it hoped “she would keep her commitment and that the visit would truly be solely for humanitarian purposes.”

But on Friday, Tlaib rejected Israel’s offer, saying that she would not visit under the conditions set forth. “I can’t allow the State of Israel to take away that light by humiliating me & use my love for my sity to bow down to their oppressive & racist policies,“ Tlaib wrote on Twitter Friday.

“I have decided that visiting my grandmother under these oppressive conditions stands against everything I believe in–fighting against racism, oppression & injustice,” she added.

Despite Tlaib writing she’d only offered to agree to Israeli restrictions on her speech in order to see her grandmother and that she’d decided to sacrifice a chance to visit her loved ones in order to take a stand, Trump responded to Tlaib’s change of heart by suggesting the entire thing was a political stunt.

“Israel was very respectful & nice to Rep. Rashida Tlaib, allowing her permission to visit her ‘grandmother.’ As soon as she was granted permission, she grandstanded & loudly proclaimed she would not visit Israel,” Trump tweeted Friday.